Danimals laying into a turn feeling the difference between being clipped or unclipped on the Alter Ego

Excerpt from Snowboarder MagThis past weekend beginning on December 12th, far from the triple corks and linked combos that are de riggeur for the opening of the contest season at the Dew Tour in Colorado that was going down simultaneously, a few hundred people migrated to the town of Bend, Oregon for three days of making turns with no intention of ever leaving the ground, save for errant sidehits and berms that populated the edges of Mt. Bachelor’s trails that led toward the race course. The Eighth Annual Dirksen Derby had arrived. – Read the full report on the Dirksen Derby from Mary Walsh at Snowboarder Mag

Danimals was a smooth criminal as he navigated the more technical red course at the derby.

Jake Welch Tops September Snow Exposure-Meter

After finishing the ‘13/14 season just out of the Exposure-Meter top ten, Jake Welch came screaming out of the gates with nearly 9k of coverage in September’s issues. Welch nearly doubled runner up Gigi Rüf’s September tally — his follow up to his win last season. The first round of mags saw some strong placements from new EM contenders including Jeremy Jones, who shot up 28 from last year’s finish, Torstein Horgmo, who launched 120 places, and Austen Sweetin, who gapped nine to close out September’s top five. Here’s to an amazing season.

Until this winter, choosing a freeride board was about compromise: a deck that’s stiff for groomer fun, or a softer model for powder turns. Thanks to a unique tail design, Ride’s new Alter Ego has snowboard boots firmly planted in both worlds. “What the split tail concept does is give you two boards in one. It gives you a hard-charging, stable board when the tail is connected. And when you disconnect the tail, it creates a surf-y, easy-to-handle, more mellow board,” explained Snowboard Development Engineer at Ride, Michael Chilton.

Ride pro, Jake Blauvelt, worked closely with the Ride engineering team for two years, providing feedback on the shape, flex profile, and camber of this deck.

Getting it perfect took more than 20 prototypes, which you’ll appreciate shortly after strapping in. We put more than a dozen days on the Alter Ego late last winter and found it was as versatile as it was a conversation piece: Everyone wanted the inside skinny on this blunt-nosed board that looks like no other thanks to a tail that resembles a splitboard.

Topher Laws was born and raised in Portland before the town was exploited for its microbrews, coffee and hipness. Rebel Skate afforded him the opportunity to start skateboarding and after returning his first plastic Black Snowboard, he took the cash from the local skate shop and bought his first real snowboard. He soon realized that the lifestyle was going to take over and it has shaped his life since then. Twelve years ago he started Evergreen Industries, a sales agency that focuses on all things skate, snow and surf-related.

“I’m excited to be working with such a strong brand as RIDE. Being from the Northwest I have always been a fan of the company. As far a heritage goes, there are few brands that have the roots these guys have. That added to the new infusion of personnel and team over there makes me super hyped on what is to come. This also means I can bust out my old Jason Ford pro model with Preston bindings!” – Topher Laws

“After an extensive 8 month search and reading through literally millions of resumes, we finally did it. We found the perfect rep. I am stoked to welcome Topher Laws to the family. I mean, sure, the Ride sales force is so handsome that when they are all together people will mistake them for a boy band or a group of traveling male models. But I say give the retailers what they want…and they want good looking reps. Welcome to the party.”

RIDE is incredibly proud to announce the addition of Jake Welch to the Pro Team.

It’s funny how a soft spoken young gentleman can also be the guy who steps up to the gnarliest spot everyone else is scared of. Jake Welch is a kind, well mannered type from Salt Lake who not only has payed dues in the past, but boasts a very promising future.

Jake stems from a large family in Sandy Utah where he started snowboarding at Brighton resort. Snowboarding became life as he went pro for other brands, putting together full video parts for their major film projects. After the ultimate bounce back from a series of life changing circumstances, Jake got back into the one thing that could make him happy, riding his snowboard.

This past winter, Jake was filming with longtime friend Pat Moore, and gathered enough footage to appear in Pat’s project “Mr. Plant” along with linking up with the Videograss crew to be featured in their new movie “Mayday”.

Welcome to the fam Jake! Keep your eye out for the RIDE snowboards team… They are about to bring the heat.